


The Stuff Of Legends

by Keira_63



Series: Songs From The TARDIS [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Holding Hands, Hugs, Inspired by Lyrics, Romance, Songfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-28
Packaged: 2017-12-10 05:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keira_63/pseuds/Keira_63
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One-shots inspired by the lyrics of songs suited to Rose/Doctor.<br/>All the lyrics which inspired these one-shots come from songs in the first story in this series (Songs From The TARDIS). Go there for more songs I think suit the Doctor/Rose pairing, as well as for chapters with songs for various other friendships.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arms (1)

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot is post-series 2, but Rose managed to hold on and didn’t get trapped in the alternate universe

**Arms - Christina Perri**  
You put your arms around me and I’m home

It had been six months since the incident at Canary Wharf.  
A sentence that Rose thought to be both right and wrong.  
It had been six months (or near enough, she always found it difficult to tell much time had passed while in the TARDIS and on planets where the days were longer or shorter).  
‘Incident’, though … it wasn’t a big enough word to describe what had happened. ‘Disaster’ was probably better, at least in Rose’s opinion. After all, many people had lost their lives to the Dalek and Cybermen attacks, and all of Canary Wharf had been destroyed (not that Rose cared about the second part, she was rather pleased Torchwood had suffered such a terrible blow after what they had helped cause).  
The worst thing, though, had been the loss of her mum.  
She didn’t think she’d made the wrong choice - she had promised the Doctor forever (or as long as she could give) and she had meant it with all her heart. She just wished that she hadn’t had to choose.  
It had hurt to lose Mickey again, but she had already resigned herself to being separated forever from him when he had chosen to stay in the alternate universe. As for Pete Tyler, she had never really known her dad and had only heard stories from her mum, and she hadn’t spent enough time with Alternate Pete to really feel like he was her dad (despite how desperate she’d been to be around him when she had first seen him).  
Her mum, though … Jackie Tyler had raised Rose single-handedly and, despite the many issues they’d had over the years (Jimmy Stone and the Doctor being two of the most memorable), she adored her mum and still wasn’t quite ready to accept that she would never see her again.

She’d had one last chance to say goodbye, and while it had only been a few minutes conversation with no ability to touch or hug her mum, Rose would never forget what the Doctor had done in letting her do even that.  
It had taken him weeks, and he had burnt up a sun (it was already dying, but Rose still firmly believed it was a huge deal). All so she could have a final few moments with the mother she would never see again.  
They’d both cried … she and her mum that is, though the Doctor had looked a little bit misty-eyed. He denied it, but she knew he liked her mum at least a bit, even if he complained - for all he insisted that he didn’t do domestic, he had regularly brought her back to the Powell Estate to visit her mum.  
Time apparently passed a bit differently in the parallel world, and by the time they’d managed to get the message through to her mum, it had been almost a year there. Jackie was, she had informed Rose, posing as the Jackie Tyler of the alternate universe, who had miraculously survived the Cybermen and had been in hospital until she was well enough to rejoin the world.  
It had seemed ridiculous to Rose, and she could see the Doctor desperately trying to stop himself from scoffing, but she knew that people liked neat explanations, and anything to do with parallel worlds would have just been laughed at by most. Still, Rose did laugh when she heard about how many of the Tyler family’s acquaintances in the parallel world had been surprised at the change in Jackie, her apparently ‘new-found’ humbleness and a less-posh attitude.  
One thing Rose had not been prepared for was her mother’s pregnancy. She understood how her mother could have fallen for the alternate Pete, and that if they wanted a child they would have needed to hurry (her mother might have had Rose young, but that had been about twenty-one years ago).  
Still, it was exciting to think she would have a sibling, even if she would never get to meet them … and Rose was pleased her mother would have a child. She knew Jackie wouldn’t replace Rose with her new baby, but it comforted her to know her mum would have someone other than Pete and Mickey.

All too soon, though, the Doctor squeezed her hand slightly and she knew that her time with her mum was running out. Both she and the Doctor faded away to the sound of goodbyes and tears.  
By the time the TARDIS surroundings had fully returned, Rose was sobbing, letting out all the grief at the loss of her mother that she’d refused to burden Jackie with.  
It took only a few seconds before the Doctor’s arms were around her, enclosing her in the warm embrace that had always made her feel safe.  
She’d hugged the old Doctor, in his ninth body, but it hadn’t been quite the same as the all-encompassing hugs she shared with this Doctor, the ones that felt as if they were both trying to get as close as possible, trying to check the other was still there (perhaps a left-over emotion from the Game Station, a day that seemed so long ago).  
This Doctor was incredibly tactile. They were always touching, holding hands or hugging mostly. She knew what it might look like to others (a happy couple in love), and she could admit to herself that she liked the idea of something more with the Doctor.  
But she also knew, from what she’d picked up, that the Time Lords had been quite a stuffy race, that the Doctor was quite an anomaly. She knew how much it meant for him to hold her hand and hug her as freely as he did, and she accepted the affection he offered, knowing what it was worth.

She missed her mum, and she would probably always miss her. It was something she’d never quite get over.  
However, wrapped in the Doctor’s arms, as he murmured condolences to her and traced patterns across her back, she knew one thing … she was home.


	2. Accidentally In Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place at various points from Series 1, episode 1 (‘Rose’) up until some point of series 2 before episode 11 (‘Fear Her’).  
> Any mentions about Time Lord society are fairly vague and come from the little I know (since most of it was probably mentioned in Classic Who, which I haven’t seen) - if anything is wrong, then it’s just artistic license or my own take. The basic information about the planet Argolis comes from the wikipedia page ‘List of Doctor Who planets’.

**Accidentally In Love - Counting Crows**  
Makes me wanna turn around and face me but I don’t know nothing ‘bout love  
\-----  
These lines of lightning  
Mean we’re never alone  
Never alone, no, no

Before she met the Doctor, Rose liked to think she knew quite a bit about love. She’d thought it was love with Jimmy Stone, but numerous arguments, quite a few slaps, too many tears and a pile of debt later, she realised that it had been infatuation.  
With Mickey she’d been quite sure. He was a good guy, he really cared about her and she thought he’d be a good husband.  
That is, until the Doctor stepped into her life and she realised just how big the universe really was.  
She still cared about Mickey, and she thought she always would, but seeing the universe showed her things she’d never imagined and made her want more. Mickey would have been happy to stay around the Powell Estate for the rest of his life, work as a mechanic and raise two point five children.  
But Rose had seen Slitheen, Gelth, werewolves, Cybermen and Daleks. She’d met Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria, and had destroyed the Dalek Emperor.  
She had no problem with Mickey wanting to stay on the Estate, but after what the Doctor had showed her she knew she could never just stay there. Even if, by some terrible event, she had to leave the Doctor, she’d never be the same girl she was, and she could never love Mickey quite as he deserved.  
So, for all her previous belief that she was fairly experienced in love for a nineteen year old girl, Rose realised she really didn’t know much at all … but what she did know was that she wanted to travel forever with the Doctor.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time Lords didn’t really do romance. They were an incredibly stuffy race of people who seemed to believe emotions were beneath them.  
There were outliers, of course, and the Doctor had gained his appreciation for emotion from the few Time Lords he saw acting more freely.  
However, while he had certainly got in touch with his emotions, and had cared for so many far more than the majority of the Time Lords, who cared nothing for individuals, he did not truly feel in touch with humanity until his ninth body.  
He’d felt it a little before, especially when he’d been trapped on earth in his third body, but when Gallifrey burned and the Time War ended, he was the last of his kind. He adopted the earth as a new home planet of sorts - never Gallifrey, but still familiar.  
Still, though, he remained quite detached from human emotion. Until he met Rose Tyler, that is.  
She was so full of life, so vibrant and curious and fantastic.  
She taught him more about humanity than anyone before (especially now he paid so much more attention, having no Time Lords informing him of how to act).  
Rose, his beautiful pink and yellow human, who had showed compassion to a Dalek, stood fearlessly against danger, and remained by his side, a hand to hold and a friend to hug.  
But the thing Rose Tyler taught him most of all was how to love.  
He’d loved companions before, in a platonic manner, and he’d loved his family too (long, long ago). Rose was different, though, an all-consuming and burning love that made him scared and delighted all at once.  
And the brilliant thing was that she understood his hesitation. She realised how different his society had been, how stifling and pompous. She understood what he was telling her in his hugs, hand-holding and kisses on the cheek … knew he was telling her he loved her without ever saying it, because the words were something he was afraid to say.  
Rose Tyler could see that while he might know little about human love, his feelings for her were unbreakable and permanent.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor was so very alone, Rose realised, without his Gallifrey or the Time Lords. Most of the time it didn’t outwardly bother him, but sometimes she could see the stark pain on his face or in his actions, and she hated to see him hurt.  
They’d gone to visit Argolis, a planet the Doctor had been keen to show her. It had been a leisure planet, but had become radioactive after a war between the Argolins and the Foamasi. Once the war was over, the Doctor had explained, the survivors had decided to set aside their militant and war-like culture in favour of promoting peace and harmony among all races.  
The Doctor loved the idea, Rose could tell, so pleased at the turning away from violence, just as he was whenever he persuaded someone to lay down their guns.  
Rose had to admit that she had enjoyed it too, a planet devoted to peace and a visit trip without the usual running for their lives, getting thrown into jails for the strangest things or having to negotiate for their lives (or the lives of others).  
The Hive in which the remaining Argolins lived in was not only dedicated to peace, but seemed to embody calm itself, with relaxing activities, beautiful structures and lazy rivers.  
It had all been going so well, until they were shown to the Argolin Museum. It was dedicated to the remembrance of wars and peace treaties across the universe, to learn from the mistakes of the former and to follow the example of the latter. One of the most prominent war situations mentioned had been the Time War … and the Doctor had found himself devastated all over again.

The Doctor was rigid, unmoving and suddenly much less jovial than he had been a minute previously. Rose looked nervously past him to see what had distressed him so, and recognised the image of Gallifrey almost immediately from what the Doctor had been induced to tell her of his lost planet.  
It was gorgeous, a true work of art, but the text below spoke of the Time War and it’s devastation, of the loss of the Time Lords and of Gallifrey.  
The Doctor had healed in part from the loss of his people and his planet, but Rose knew for sure that the wound would never close, and remain prominent for the rest of his lives. Seeing it mentioned, without being given any warning, was probably hard for him.  
She couldn’t comfort him - he had lost so much and it was not something that should be forgotten or brushed over. Instead she just held his hand tightly, leaning against him but saying nothing, just letting her know she was there for him, that he wasn’t alone.  
She just hoped it was enough.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor had been delighted with his choice to take Rose to Argolis, especially when she adored the place and it’s peaceful culture just as much as he did.  
But seeing the images of Gallifrey, the words talking about the Time War, had brought the feelings of loss he always felt (but tried to hide) to the forefront of his mind.  
The pain burned inside him, the huge empty space inside him where his many people used to be, all now gone.  
Then Rose put her hand in his, leaned against him, and even with her silence she showed him that he wasn’t alone. His people and planet were gone, but he still had the brilliant pink and yellow girl who had made him feel human again.  
He remembered that moment in his ninth form, when she’d told him that his life was ‘better with two’. It was true - Rose was right, as she often was. He needed somebody … he needed Rose.  
He no longer felt alone. 


	3. Hall Of Fame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of events from series 1-4, but the final episodes of series 4 are AU - there was no Doctor Duplicate or Doctor Donna (Rose as Bad Wolf saved them instead) and Rose didn’t go back to the parallel world, but stayed with the Doctor.

**Hall Of Fame - The Script Feat. will.i.am**  
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah)  
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)  
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

They both knew what it was to burn like the sun and stars, burn in a way few others would ever experience.  
The Doctor had experienced it multiple times with every one of his regenerations. Some were more violent than others, but every one made him burn up inside and explode into a new man.  
Rose had experienced the burn just twice. The first had been when she had absorbed the Heart of the TARDIS in order to save the Doctor and the universe. She had become the Bad Wolf and the power that had coursed through her had made her feel like she was on fire. Her head had been full of time itself, of all that could be, and she had felt like she would explode.  
The Doctor’s burning didn’t kill him, in fact it saved him.  
On the other hand, Rose’s first burning had nearly killed her - would have killed her if the Doctor hadn’t pulled the power from her.  
But it had a side-effect, changing her into something that had never existed before. On the outside, she was still Rose Tyler, normal human woman. Inside, however, the Bad Wolf remained dormant.  
She had burned once more, years later when Davros and the Daleks threatened the whole of creation. She had, for a second time, wiped out the Daleks, and she had done so with the power she drew from the TARDIS.  
She was still Rose Tyler, still pink and yellow and so very special. But she wasn’t quite human anymore. Her body had adapted to allow her to draw on the Bad Wolf, to burn with the power of time itself, without risking her life. Her life was now irrevocably tied to that of the TARDIS, and so she could stay with the Doctor always.  
So it was that with her burning, she gained what she had wanted desperately … the Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS, as it should be.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Across universes and galaxies, there were always planets and people who remembered the Doctor’s companions. Every companion was featured in at least one story passed down generations, about the Doctor and his friends. Their memories would keep long after they were gone, for their deeds would be remembered for centuries and beyond.  
However, out of all those companions, it was Rose Tyler who was remembered by the most, whose name was whispered and praised by so many people. She was not always known by name, but countless people and planets spoke of Rose Tyler, of the Valiant Child, of the Golden Lady … and most of all, of the Bad Wolf.  
I am the Bad Wolf.  
Neither she or the Doctor ever found out how the story of the Bad Wolf had spread so far and so fast, but so many people seemed to recognise Rose as the Bad Wolf, even after both she and the Doctor were convinced it had left her.  
It started with the werewolf’s words to her at the Torchwood Estate … there is something of the wolf about you.  
It continued on as they travelled, and there were even planets they visited where Rose was revered as a goddess. The Doctor continually heard reference to the Bad Wolf when he travelled with both Martha and Donna, though he tended to leave those places as soon as possible, the thought of Rose causing him too much pain.  
When they reunited, Dalek Caan, in his madness, spoke of the Wolf, and it awoke within Rose the power to destroy the Daleks. She accessed that side of herself easier after that, when she began to travel once more with the Doctor and they realised her lack of ageing (tied as her life was to the TARDIS). 

It was not just Bad Wolf, though, but many other names by which Rose was known. Some were linked to just one place, and others were more common.  
She had only ever been called the Valiant Child once, by the Beast who had possessed the Ood.  
The valiant child, who will die in battle so very soon.  
The name should have been a source of pride, but all it did was bring back memories of her panic when she thought she’d lost the Doctor forever, and of the truth of those words - she had ‘died’ in battle, at least on paper. She despised most mentions of the terrible day she had been separated from her Doctor, and was constantly thankful that no one had ever chosen to give her such a moniker.

The Golden Lady was a name that had followed her across many planets. It was generally those with citizens who saw auras, had mental powers, or who simply observed things others missed.  
For many of these people and aliens, Rose had something of a golden glow about her. Both she and the Doctor presumed it was a remnant of the Bad Wolf, but they had only ever seen it the two times she had called upon the Bad Wolf. She was thus christened the Golden Lady, and while it sometimes disturbed her to be the focus of so much awe and praise, she accepted it as part of her travels (along with running, jail cells and accidental marriages).

There were other names too, many names, across many planets and galaxies. They spread the story of Rose Tyler through generations and beyond. But where there was Rose Tyler, so too was there The Doctor.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor was known mostly by his title. His true name was known to no one (at least until Rose became his wife) and he used the Doctor almost all the time.  
John Smith was his preferred name when he wanted something less conspicuous, but he was rarely remembered by that name (except perhaps, by Sarah-Jane Smith).  
He was known as different things in different places - warrior, peacemaker and Time Lord being just a few.  
However, there was one title that often went hand in hand with stories of him, tales of the mysterious last Time Lord. The Oncoming Storm.  
You know what they call me in the ancient legends on the Dalek home world? The Oncoming Storm.  
It was a name to strike fear, it was a name mentioned on planets where the Doctor had shown the great anger he was capable of. It was a reminder that he was not just the Doctor (a peacemaker and healer), but also a warrior, a Time Lord capable of terrifying things.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor and his names were woven throughout history, forever remembered for the great deeds he had done.  
So too was the name of Rose Tyler and the Bad Wolf.  
Separately, their names and the tales surrounding them were magnificent.  
But together, the Doctor and Rose Tyler … they were famous across the universe. They were fantastic.  
The Stuff of Legends.


	4. Something That I Want (1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly centred around series 1, episode 1, ‘Rose’ - vague mentions of events of series 1-2 - Characters are Rose and Nine, with mentions of Mickey and Jackie  
> There's a nod to another character in this chapter - it's pretty obvious but let me know if you spot it.

**Something That I Want (1) - Grace Potter**

She's a girl with the best intentions   
He's a man of his own invention   
She looked out of the window   
He walked out the door   
But she followed him   
And he said, "What'cha lookin' for?"

Rose Tyler could be a bit selfish, and she was well aware of it. She had thought herself in love with Jimmy Stone and had completely disregarded the advice of her friends, the pleas of her mother and Mickey’s feelings entirely. She had convinced herself that it was love, that she wasn’t abandoning them, they just didn’t understand.  
She could barely bring herself to drag herself back, defeated, to those who had warned her, when she realised just what Jimmy was really like. She put it off for a few days, staying with a distant friend who wasn’t aware of the whole Jimmy mess. But she eventually faced up to her mistakes, apologised to her mum, her friends and Mickey.  
She hadn’t meant to hurt them, she’d only wanted to find her happy ever after. 

The job at Henriks was meant to be temporary. Rose planned to find somewhere she could get her A-Levels. Her GCSE marks hadn’t been great, but she’d managed mostly Cs and two Bs. She had even got an A, something that had made her mum so proud. It had been in Science of all things - the extra help she’d gotten from Professor John Smith had really helped, though he’d only stayed a year and had the most ridiculous dress sense (the bow tie just the tip of the iceberg).  
Her mum had been happy that Rose was starting to heal after Jimmy, and pleased she wanted to go back to school. Unfortunately, she’d just got so busy with her work at the shop and her relationship with Mickey that she had no time to study or find somewhere to take her A-Levels. Eventually, even her mum stopped asking about her progress.  
She hadn’t meant to put off something that could have gotten her off the estate and given her a better job, she’d only wanted to be sure she didn’t neglect Mickey, and she liked being able to contribute financially and help her mum that way.

The Doctor had been a shock, something incredibly extraordinary in her oh-so-normal life.   
At first he’d just been strange, with his leather jacket and ridiculous ears, insulting humans left and right. But he’d been amazing too, and she’d helped save him, and planet earth. Rose Tyler, the shop girl from a London estate, had saved them all. It was a glorious feeling and when the Doctor asked her to come with him, she could barely hold off saying yes the first time. She was sold the second he returned.  
She hadn’t meant to worry her mum, to disappear for a year and lead to Mickey getting accused of murder. She’d only wanted to see the stars and save planets and just do something for once in her life.

Rose Tyler was a good person. She was strong and brave and clever and so very human. She was a bit selfish too, but she always had the best intentions.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Time Lords were a stuffy lot, in the Doctor’s opinion. They were his people, but he could definitely admit that they had problems. He wasn’t sure why his opinion seemed to be shared by few other Time Lords, but he supposed it could be an effect of the fact that he was born naturally, not from the looms.   
The Time Lords were sneaky and high-handed, often cruel and uncaring. The Doctor didn’t want to constantly be associated with him. He continually identified himself as one of the Time Lords (and later, as the last), but he was sure to give his name too.  
The Doctor - he’d chosen it, and it was the way he wanted to portray himself. Not a man who stood and watched civilisations burn, but someone who tried to help, to heal.  
During the darkness of the Time War he’d often felt he didn’t deserve it, and in the immediate aftermath he had refused to speak his title aloud, and had even tried not to think it.  
Then he met a bright girl called Rose Tyler. She was rough around the edges but so human and fantastic. He gave her his name, spoke it out loud for the first time in months. When they’d saved the earth from the Nestene Consciousness, he started to feel like he might be earning back the right to speak his own name, to put himself forward as The Doctor.

His name was of his own invention, and he tried to make sure the man he was lived up to that.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he first met her, he thought she seemed nice, but he paid little attention to her. She was a scared girl he’d saved and he was the guy who had just blown up her job. He had expected never to see her again.  
Then his leads had led him to her again, and she’d been so inquisitive and interested in what was going on. He gave up a bit of information, but then sent her away, once again thinking that would be the last he’d see of her.  
It wasn’t.  
It was like she was following him. She researched and then her idiot of a boyfriend got involved and turned into plastic. He kept trying to stay detached, but she was so warm and brilliant that he got attached. When she saved him, and they destroyed the Nestene Consciousness, he knew he had to ask her to come with him.

She said no.  
He knew she was torn, knew from the spark in her eyes that she wanted to go. But her boyfriend was clinging to her like a limpet and she insisted she had to look after him - obviously ignoring how ridiculous that was.  
He was disappointed, but he left, not wanting a half-hearted companion who would come to resent him. Yet something inside him wanted this girl with him and, against his constant insistence that he didn’t ask twice, he went back and told her it travelled in time.  
She was running towards him before he’d even finished the sentence.

Right then, Rose Tyler, you tell me. Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. It's your choice. What's it going to be?

That day, they both found what they were looking for.


End file.
